THE details sound like another sordid blow-out in Las Vegas but this was Prince Harry on official duty at a US Air Force base last night.

Looking slightly sheepish down on all fours with a cheerleader on his back and a big old bird with blue hair above her, the third-in-line to the throne posed for photographs in a three-tier human pyramid at the US Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.

Always game for a laugh, the Prince also managed to rope in Britain's most senior military office in the US, Major General Buster Howse, military attaché to the British embassy in Washington, who crouched down beside him.

He is used to being top of the pile but Harry, 28, found himself at the base of the pyramid with cadet Scott Cronin, 19, and cheerleader Amanda Herman, 20, on top of him and the mascot of the US Air Force Falcons American football team above them. "I was on top of him and he was solid, a solid base. He did great," said Scott.

Prince Harry, center, grimaces at the bottom of a pyramid of cheerleaders

After meeting Prince Harry, the US Air Force Academy mascot known as The Bird, tweeted: "Got the opportunity to meet Prince Harry of Wales today! He won't forget who THE BIRD is!"?

The Prince, who is on a week-long tour of the US, his first visit to America since he was photographed taking part in a game of strip billiards in a £5,000-a-night hotel room during a holiday in Las Vegas last year, also tried his hand at being a quarterback at the academy's full-sized indoor gridiron pitch.

He impressed Troy Calhoun, head football coach at the academy, with his ability to throw 40 and 50 yard passes for other cadets to catch. The Prince fired a shot at photographers and scored a direct hit on a Channel 5 television cameraman. He also managed to catch a 50-yard pass on the run.

Coach Calhoun said: "The Prince was terrific. You can tell he has great body coordination. He would be a natural football player. He is aggressive, he is strong, he is smart. I would love to sign him up to the Air Force academy football team if I could."

The academy is one of two sites being used to stage the Warrior Games for injured troops and Harry, known as Captain Harry Wales in the Army, took part in the training session during a tour of the base. He was given a Falcons shirt with Wales on the back. "I've got all the gear, got no idea," he said.

rince Harry of Britain gives a kiss to U.S. Army's Margaux Mange

Prince Harry's dream of staging a Paralympic-style international sports competition for injured troops in front of huge crowds in London is set to be fulfilled as early as next year.

Help for Heroes, the charity supporting British troops taking part in the Warrior Games in the United States, insisted tonight that it could make it happen.Harry, who is attending the games in Colorado Springs as part of a week-long tour of the US, launched the cycling competition tonight and spoke passionately about expanding the US-British event into a worldwide affair.

“I only hope in the future, the near future, we can bring the Warrior Games to Britain and continue to enlarge this fantastic cause,” he said.

“I don’t see how it wouldn’t be possible to fill a stadium with 80,000 people, not to watch Olympics, not to watch Paralympics but to watch wounded servicemen fight it out amongst each other - not on a battlefield but in a stadium.”

Prince Harry (bottom C) watches a cheerleader demonstration at the U.S. Air Force

Harry sounds the starting horn for the Warror Games in Colorado Springs

At the US Air Force Academy in the mountain resort, he started the first men's 10k handcycle race, telling the American competitors: "Good luck guys. If you see a Union Jack shirt coming from behind, let him through."

Compere Michael Aisner offered to lend him his mobile phone to call "grandma" for US Mother's Day after he started the race.

Mr Aisner boasted about the 300 days of sunshine in Colorado and suggested, to screams of approval from women in the crowd, that the Prince should move to the state. When Harry suggested it was unlikely, the compere asked why not. "Because it's not always sunny," the Prince replied.

The Warrior Games have cost between 800,000 and a million US doillars to stage..

The British team and the charity Help for Heroes, which has funded their participation, believes that with help from the British Paralympic Association and use of Ministry of Defence training facilities, the UK can host the games with more countries taking part next year.

Harry takes some time to speak with one of the competitors

I only hope in the future, the near future, we can bring the Warrior Games to Britain and continue to enlarge this fantastic cause

Prince harry

Bryn Parry, co-founder of Help For Heroes, said: "If Harry can set up the vision, we can make it happen."

Mr Parry said high-profile events for injured veterans would become vital to keep their lifelong need for support in the public eye once Britain pulls out of Afghanistan next year.

"We've got to keep doing events to elicit pride and support," he said. "We've got to keep these individuals in the public eye even if we have peace."

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Martin Colclough, head of physical recovery for Help For Heroes, said that if he was a betting man he would put money on a Warrior Games-style event happening in London in 2014, with US, Australian and other Allied nations taking part.

"For me that would be the goal," he said. "We've had it in mind for a while, that we could pull off something like that.

"I would bet on it happening next year. There is considerable momentum coming from various organisations."